Philippe Boesmans – Julie
La Monnaie, Brussels – March 13 2005 Conductor: Kazushi Ono. Production: Luc Bondy. Sets: Richard Peduzzi. Jean: Garry Magee. Julie: Malena Ernman. Kristin: Kerstin Avemo. La Monnaie Chamber Orchestra. Boesmans When a brand new opera has just been premiered, there are two things you’d like to find out from a write-up: (1) was it any good? and (2) what was it like? For me, as an amateur “reviewing” Philippe Boesmans’ new opera Julie (based on Strindberg’s play) after just one hearing, answering the first question is easy: yes. Answering the second is a good deal harder. But I’ll give it a try – and try, also, to make fewer factual errors than some professionals… The first thing that came to mind was that the overall style was like a meeting between Britten’s Screw and Zemlinksy’s Der Zwerg . Thoughts of the former, I decided, were probably due mainly (only?) to Boesmans’ use of a chamber ensemble of around 20 players and to the opera’s claustrophobic, country-house setting, plus the f...